I think it depends on the level of disability. I Remeber a few years ago, I had a Chief Clerk, who had lost his leg in an RTA some years before, he had a prostetic limb fitted, and was a good Chief clerk, he just got on with it, never moaning about his leg, he could never deploy but was a good egg.

Bliar and Co will only implement the EU directives which suit them. Don't forget they're still trying to find a way round the employment laws to allow manning control to return in all its glory while barring servicemen from taking them to court for unfair dismissal.

Ah but surely this releates more to recruitment than retention/deployment.

What about that bootie capt that lost a leg? He was still going strong on a prosthetic thing. Not sure how deployable though. Surely if they can do all the drill/pass all the tests there isn't a problem? Just my 2p

This rule is about individual assessment. I'm diabetic, and applying for the police as of 1st October. There is no longer a blanket ban on disabled people applying for army/cops/fire brigade etc., but you have to show that your disability won't get in the way. It comes from an HGV driver who challenged his ban after he got diabetes. He knew how to cope with his condition, so felt it unfair that he was treated like some sort of invalid.

What we keep seeing is this government implementing all the mad EU directives irrespective of the consequences.

I personally hope they will see sense and not implement it, however knowing this bunch of arrses, don't hold your breath!

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Alas, due to the principle of Direct Effect (established in the European Court of Justice case Ratti in 197, the government have no choice in whether or not they implement directives - they have to, under EU law. How they implement it is up to the government in question, but they have to implement it and achieve the desired intent of the directive (i.e. no sneaky stuff to get out of it). If they don't (within two years of the directive being made) they can either be sued in their national courts by individuals affected by the directive (in this case, disabled people could sue our government if an EU directive were made requiring disabled people to be allowed into the Armed Forces), or another member state or the EU itself may institute the Article 234 procedure, which can lead to mega-fines.